The Rakehell Regency Romance Collection Volume 2(153)

Fitzsimmons of course insisted upon being the hero, the Duke and Duchess the Hardcastles. Parks seemed perfect for Tony Lumpkin, and Clifford reprised his role as Hastings. Will suddenly found himself being volunteered for the role of the Landlord.



"Oh, no, really, Stewart or Monroe…"



"Nonsense, my dear fellow," Stewart said. "You know I'm not bookish. It's one of your favorite plays. As for poetry, Will can recite hundreds of things from memory. He was the most popular man in the officer's mess. He helped pass a great number of very long, tedious and cold hours in Spain and France, I can tell you."



"Then you must be the Landlord," Elizabeth said. "I insist."



"No, really—"



She smiled mischievously, seeing Amelia ogling him, and wondering why the silly girl bothered her so. "It will work out well. After all, you are four tall, blond, handsome men. You will look well together, and the women can all admire you."



"Thank you for my share," Clifford said, "but all I want is Vanessa's warm regard."



"Do you mean you shall not admire us?" Parks teased.



"Of course I shall, if you read your lines well," she said with a wink.



True to her words, Elizabeth was most impressed with Parks and Will's performances. Their comic timing could not have been better, and paired as Tony and the Landlord, they did extremely well.



The only weak link was Fitzsimmons. It was a pity he had such an exaggerated opinion of his own very limited abilities, she thought with a sigh.



She laughed as hard as anyone in the audience when Will exclaimed in a broad West Country accent, "Master Hardcastle's! Lack-a-daisy, my masters, you're come a deadly deal wrong! When you came to the bottom of the hill, you should have crossed down Squash Lane. Then you were to keep straight forward, till you came to four roads."



"Come to where four roads meet?" Marcus Fitzsimmons said woodenly.



"Aye," Parks said, "but you must be sure to take only one of them.



"Then keeping to the right, you are to go sideways till you come upon Crackskull Common: there you must look sharp for the track of the wheel, and go forward till you come to farmer Murrain's barn. Coming to the farmer's barn, you are to turn to the right, and then to the left, and then to the right about again, till you find out the old mill—"



Having missed a couple of his other lines, Marcus Fitzsimmons burst out, "‘Zounds, man! We could as soon find out the longitude!" but he was too loud and did not manage to get a laugh.



Will's performance was word-perfect without so much as a glance at the book.



He said in a stage whisper, "Sure, you been't sending them to your father's as an inn, be you?"



"Mum, you fool you. Let them find that out."



Parks then bestowed a huge smile on his fellow actors and victims in the play and said, "You have only to keep on straight forward, till you come to a large old house by the road side. You'll see a pair of large horns over the door. That's the sign. Drive up the yard, and call stoutly about you. I'll just step myself, and show you a piece of the way."



Will, left alone on stage to deliver the final line of the act, muttered under his breath, "Ah, bless your heart, for a sweet, pleasant, mischievous brat."



Then there was rapturous applause, and they took their bows.



Fitzsimmons looked at the book and remarked with a sly smile, "Not quite what it says here, eh, old boy?"



Will stared at him coldly. "There is no need to use such language in front of the ladies."



"All a bit of fun."



"If you speak like that in your own home sir, that is your affair. I do not in mine, and most certainly would not in any one else's."



Elizabeth silently applauded his principles, but Marcus Fitzsimmons opened his mouth to retort.



Parks calmed the scene by congratulating everyone on how well they had done, and suggesting they could all do with a spot of refreshment.



"Honestly, I don't know what I would do without you," she said, giving Parks a warm smile. "You certainly know how to be the ultimate host."



"Only too pleased to help, my dear. Not every person is blessed with my gift of uncomplicated and brazen love of ostentation."



Everyone within hearing distance laughed at him, and Elizabeth took his arm.



As they drank coffee a few moments later in the dining room, they discussed plans for the ball in two nights' time.



"What about a masked ball?" Parks suggested. "Now is the best time to have it, before we all get to know each other's clothes and gowns so well that we will be able to tell each other easily. There can be little prizes for the person who guesses the most out of all the people. We will make hooded cloaks, black for the men, white for the ladies, and we can pin little numbers on each other."